Comfort Zone
by orangespd
Summary: Neil makes an effort to bring Todd to a poetry reading when a thunderstorm causes a blackout.


"Neil, I already told you. _I don't want to go_," Todd Anderson exclaimed wearily while contentedly reading by the fading light of day in his red flannels. The Tuesday sun was beginning to fall upon the horizon, leaving Welton Academy shaded by hues of orange and pink. Autumn leaves danced in the wind and landed on the ground, covering the grass in a blanket of earth toned blush. The night was impending, and Neil Perry had made plans with the other boys to steal away after dusk to read aloud from Mr. Keating's once new but now tattered and heavily used collection of poems.

"Come on Todd, it will be fun!" Neil urged as he positioned his face in front of Todd's, grinning from ear to ear with high spirits. The boys had just showered, leaving Neil shirtless, and Todd's neat, sandy blonde hair appearing dark and uncombed, illustrating his reluctance to get out of bed that evening. "We're leaving in an hour, and you're coming with us. Hasn't anything Mr. Keating said gotten through to you? Everyone saw the way you made that poem yesterday in class. It was incredible. Don't you want to -"

"No Neil," Todd replied half-heartedly, lacking confidence. Despite his obstinance, he fell weak at the sight of Neil's energetic, captivating smile, and turned to face the window in fear that Neil would recognize his unexplained hesitancy for the desire he couldn't suppress. Beginning halfway through the year, these thoughts pained Todd, since he knew that they would not be tolerated by the administration, or by Neil, for that matter.

"Listen. do you think that any historic figure got where they ended up by staying in their comfort zone? Rosa Parks knew that her stubbornness wouldn't be received with kind words, and without her, we wouldn't have racial equality," lectured Neil.

"Yeah, but the difference between me and her is that I'm not a black woman fighting for civil rights in the 1950's," Todd muttered under his breath. As Neil opened his mouth to object, the unmistakable sound of thunder rang through the open window. Neil turned to the window, grimaced, and glanced over to Todd.

"Well, if you're going to stay, you might want to close that," he said, smirking. The sky began to fall dark with clouds saturated with rain-water.

"Neil, there's no way you're going out there," Todd warned.

"Oh really?" Neil challenged. He began to saunter towards the door, placing his hand firmly on the handle. "And who exactly is going to stop me?"

"Neil, please, just stay here. You'll get sick, and I don't want to have to take care of you..." Todd trailed off. In fact, he _did_ want that. He began to fantasize about the possibility of spending an entire day doing nothing but taking care of his friend. Bringing him hot tea, reading aloud Byron and Shelley to him, and maybe even crawling into his bed with him to ward off his chills...

"Todd?"

"Huh?" Todd replied helplessly. He had let his thoughts get away from him.

"Are you okay?" inquired Neil. "You kind of shut off for a minute there, like you were dreaming about something."

"Wha - No, um, well, I uh… I'm just hungry is all." Stammered Todd.

"Yeah… hungry," Neil said pensively. "Todd," Neil said, unsure. He let his hand slide off the golden doorknob and angled himself to face his roommate, his dark brown hair disturbed by the wind entering the room. Water was beginning to sprinkle onto the radiator at a steady rate, but neither boy could be bothered to do anything about it in the moment. "Todd, I - " Neil was interrupted by a stroke of lightning that rendered all the electrical appliances in their room useless. "Shit," Neil said under his breath.

"Aw man, I was almost done with my book, too," said Todd. "Still think it's a good idea to go outside?"

"Shut up Todd," Neil said, laughing. Todd's shadowed face broke out into a grin. "Close that, will you?" Todd sat up and fumbled out of his bed, over several textbooks on the floor and into the wall beside him with a loud "Thunk." "Wow, you'd think you'd know your way around our room better than that since you've been here for over a month already," teased Neil.

"Very funny. It's a lot harder than it looks,_ by the way_." Todd said defensively. Neil let out a small laugh and started back to his bed. Blinded by the darkness, he ended up at the wall where Todd was scaling his way to the open window. Todd froze and let out an audible breath when he felt Neil's hand briefly brush against his own in an effort to find his way. Feeling empowered by the seemingly insignificant gasp, Neil knew for certain that it was anything but trivial. He had seen the longing expressions Todd wore when he thought Neil couldn't see. Little did he know, his feelings towards Neil were intensely and Irrevocably mutual.

"Todd, there's something I have to tell you," Neil said, slowly closing the gap between them. Paralyzed by his imagination, Todd managed to give a small nod that Neil felt and received as permission to continue. He took a deep breath. "Ever since I first met you… I haven't been able to stop thinking about you." Todd's breathing was deep and focused, feeling as if he remained lost in a dream. Neil brought his voice down to a whisper. "Your soft voice, the submissive expression on your face, the way you try to keep me safe… It drives me crazy."

"Neil -" Todd sighed helplessly, overjoyed by his friend's confession.

"Every night I go to sleep, I'm cold. Not the type of cold you can fix with socks and an extra blanket… But the type of cold that only a person can fight away. A kind of cold that only _you_ can keep away." Driven by his desire to stop Neil in the middle of his sentence with his lips, Todd held his hands in fists behind his back to restrain himself, knowing that his classmates would not approve.

"Neil, I can't believe this," Todd whispered. He was convinced he was dreaming.

"I've seen the way you look at me, Todd. I know you feel the same," Neil expressed quietly, letting a miniscule smile creep across his lips that Todd could practically feel because they were so close. "It's okay. Trust me." Todd placed a hand on Neil's bare, pounding chest. It was wet with rain from the open window that neither of them had bothered to close. Neil's breath deepened as he leaned in to press his lips against Todd's for the first time. The cold, soft feeling of each other's lips created a euphoric release of the tension held between them for so long. Neil ran his hand through Todd's blonde hair and Todd let out a sigh of satisfaction. Without breaking the intimacy between them, Neil wrapped his arms around Todd, Latching on to the bottom of his flannel top and drew it upwards. The dark haired boy pressed his bare chest against Todd's and once more sought for his lips. They stayed alone, locked together in the dead of night, for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, Todd spoke.

"Neil.. I love you," He whispered.

"I love you too, Todd. More than anything in the world," Neil said, his voice shaking. He held out his hand to Todd and led him into his bed. Resting in each other's arms, they exchanged one last, lingering kiss before the night came to an end.

"I love power outages," Todd smirked. Neil laughed, and sighed as Todd stroked his hand softly until they drifted into each other's dreams.


End file.
